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Wilfried Raussert

Wilfried Raussert is Professor for Literature and Culture of North America and Chair of North American and Inter-American Studies at Bielefeld University. Since 2013 he has been Spokesperson of the BMBF project Entangled Americas at the CIAS, Bielefeld University. He is Director of the International Association of Inter-American Studies and General Editor of its e-journal fiar (forum for inter-american research).

Art, commissioned or trespassing (liminal) intervenes in urban development as part of consumer culture but also expression of grassroots urban politics creating communal and public spaces as forum for conviviencia, dialogue, participation, and resistance. Art practice in the Americas continues to break with urban convention, social norm, and spatial configuration. As an experimental realm of crossing boundaries, crisscrossing time and space, ‘collaging’ worlds anew, art practices anticipate social change, quickly respond to social crisis, expose the fluidity and ambiguity of public space and faster than official city planning envision new sites and spaces for creative and critical expression. Art has played a pivotal role and continues to exert a major impact in defining and designing public space thus intervening in debates about the public sphere. The project 'Art Practice in Times of Crisis: Occupying Public Space' explores art practices in times of crisis in different historical epochs (1920s, 1960s, contemporary period) and intends to highlight artistic ways of responding to crisis, reflecting crisis and managing crisis.